OK, if I understood unitron's directions, I started this time with the Fluke meter's probe lodged in the power supply mother board connector's yellow lead, and then cycled power on; voltage reads are as follows, all + volts dc: 12.3 for less than a second, then immediately dropping to 11.3-11.5 for first minute of boot; 11.5 -11-8 for second minute of boot; 11.8 for third minute of boot; 11-8 12.2 after boot complete and voltage stabilized at 12.2 this time.

I've got some programming I'm trying to record tonight. I will take the power supply out tomorrow morning and inspect the solder connections and also really scrutinize the capacitors - - I wasn't looking for chubby guys, I thought the ones with split tops and oozing innards were the signs of DOA....apparently there are some subtle signs of impending doom as those photos show.

Replacing the caps will take me back to my Heathkit building days too bad you have to have crappy consumer electronics to get the good old Heathkit experience any more. In terms of expediency, would it be wise to put in a new/refurb power supply? I could always do the cap replacement and hang on to this one as a back-up. It seemed to me I saw a link somewhere in one of the forums for replacement power supplies - - anybody got any ideas?

Thanks again for the help. I'll report back on the capacitor inspection when complete. Any comments on the voltages I reported in this latest test would be appreciated as well.

BJ

Do you want to spend $10 or $100?

You can buy another supply from Weaknees, or possibly on eBay.

The 652s apparently had two different power supply designs at different times, so you might not be able to swap parts between them, although either should work with any 652 motherboard, and apparently both are possible capacitor disease candidates.

Just curious Bigjon, you don't happen to have a linux box do you? If you do I would suggest pulling the drive and reading the logs before you spend any money. You can also post the logs here and let some of the eyes take a peek. Also, if you have the original drive you might want to put it in and see what it does. You say the 1TB was freeze framing so maybe it just got sicker. But then that wouldn't explain why two drives have the same symptom.

I put a 2TB in my THD and it starting rebooting every 20 minutes. Then it started doing it with my 1TB drive. I put the stock drive back in for a month and no problem.

I've now had the 2TB in for about a month and no reboots. I'm hoping yours just starts working like mine...

Edited to add...

Also bigjon, can you post a new partition map of the upgraded drive? I ask because it dawned on me that jmfs leaves a little empty space at the end of the drive and if it did this with you then you have 17 partitions. I say this because the map you posted above from your upgraded 1TB has 15 partitions so if jmfs left that space you have 17 which might be your problem. Your tivo thinks it has an external drive. Look at my partition 14, that is that little extra space it leaves.

Just curious Bigjon, you don't happen to have a linux box do you? If you do I would suggest pulling the drive and reading the logs before you spend any money. You can also post the logs here and let some of the eyes take a peek. Also, if you have the original drive you might want to put it in and see what it does. You say the 1TB was freeze framing so maybe it just got sicker. But then that wouldn't explain why two drives have the same symptom.

I put a 2TB in my THD and it starting rebooting every 20 minutes. Then it started doing it with my 1TB drive. I put the stock drive back in for a month and no problem.

I've now had the 2TB in for about a month and no reboots. I'm hoping yours just starts working like mine...

Edited to add...

Also bigjon, can you post a new partition map of the upgraded drive? I ask because it dawned on me that jmfs leaves a little empty space at the end of the drive and if it did this with you then you have 17 partitions. I say this because the map you posted above from your upgraded 1TB has 15 partitions so if jmfs left that space you have 17 which might be your problem. Your tivo thinks it has an external drive. Look at my partition 14, that is that little extra space it leaves.

jmfs does not leave space. Not unless you do something to screw up how it normally works.

It copies byte for byte the source drive to the target drive (which means there will only be an Apple Free Partition if there already was one on the source, but since it was designed to work with original TiVo drives, there isn't supposed to be one), and if the target drive is larger than the source drive, which is pretty much the whole idea, it uses all of that extra space in which to create a single MFS Media partition and does some other voodoo to make the TiVo like it.

MFS Live has been known to leave a little extra space when copying to a larger drive and adding an MFS pair, but apparently WinMFS avoids this.

BigJon used WinMFS to copy his 160GB original to a 1TB and expand by adding an MFS pair, so only 15 partitions and no extra space, making him a perfect candidate for jmfs, provided there's nothing else wrong with the TiVo or the underlying physical part of the hard drive(s).

As I recall, you were trying something with a 658 image to go on a 652, so there's no telling what you may have wound up with.

Unless I've confused you with another TCF'er with whom I've discussed the whole partition 17 danger. After a while it all starts to run together.

jmfs does not leave space. Not unless you do something to screw up how it normally works.

If you look at my partition map I upgraded strait from the stock drive to the 2TB using jmfs and I have the extra partition. If you look closely I have a single partition that is 1.6tb in size. I know of only one way to get that and it's jmfs. All other upgrade tools that I know of adds partition pairs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by unitron

As I recall, you were trying something with a 658 image to go on a 652, so there's no telling what you may have wound up with.

Unless I've confused you with another TCF'er with whom I've discussed the whole partition 17 danger. After a while it all starts to run together.

Its true I tried a lot of things but none of that has anything to do with the partition map I posted. I wouldn't put that kind of confusion into another persons call for help. I don't know if its fair to call my integrity or motives into question.

What I posted is from the stock 160gb drive that I ran for about a month reboot free so I used jmfs to upgrade it directly to 2tb and let it go about 3 weeks before hacking by hand which was a couple of weeks ago. The only thing not stock about this drive is the kernel, bash, iptables, busybox and tivowebplus.

My curiosity can be alleviated by bigjon posting a partition map of his upgraded drive. Its sure a lot easier than replacing a power supply.

If you look at my partition map I upgraded strait from the stock drive to the 2TB using jmfs and I have the extra partition. If you look closely I have a single partition that is 1.6tb in size. I know of only one way to get that and it's jmfs. All other upgrade tools that I know of adds partition pairs.

Its true I tried a lot of things but none of that has anything to do with the partition map I posted. I wouldn't put that kind of confusion into another persons call for help. I don't know if its fair to call my integrity or motives into question.

What I posted is from the stock 160gb drive that I ran for about a month reboot free so I used jmfs to upgrade it directly to 2tb and let it go about 3 weeks before hacking by hand which was a couple of weeks ago. The only thing not stock about this drive is the kernel, bash, iptables, busybox and tivowebplus.

My curiosity can be alleviated by bigjon posting a partition map of his upgraded drive. Its sure a lot easier than replacing a power supply.

Here is the partition and zone map info for the WD20EUS (I grabbed it thinking someone might ask this very question) - there was no apple_free or 17th partition issue here. The Hitachi 1TB had 15 partitions and I believe the 16th partition is standard JMFS practice for the enlarged storage capacity.

(BTW - while I post the WD20EURS data and run out to find a Torx driver small enough to remove the screw holding the AC power input lug into place against the back of the Tivo; I don't have a Torx 5 it seems.....can anyone tell me which were the counterfeit caps, the one's with the gold labeling on black or silver labeling on black [I have the gold] - I don't see any budging yet but I want to take a closer look with the power supply out of the chassis).

And no, I don't have a Linux box - - I am just now going through the process of installing Windows 7 Professional after running XP for 15 years. Closest I get to Linux are the MFSlive and JFMS boot discs.

I took the power supply out as unitron suggested. The solder connections on the underside of the board all looked good. What was perhaps suspect was one, possibly two of the 10 V 2200 uf capacitors had the first signs of bulging. Based on what I have seen in the threads on Tivo power supply deaths due to the capacitor plague (and that the reboot issue is common to all those with sick capacitors except for the ones that just grenade - then there are other things that don't work).

So, I am going to pick up a kit of the capacitors I need to replace all of the small ones on the board and just put new ones in from a reliable source. I can probably get all the parts I need locally at Fry's that's in driving range.

I'll report back once I've got the power supply buttoned back up and have a new image on the WD20EURS (I'll need to re-do the JMFS copy since there is new cable card data on the Hitachi 1 TB drive).

If you look at my partition map I upgraded strait from the stock drive to the 2TB using jmfs and I have the extra partition. If you look closely I have a single partition that is 1.6tb in size. I know of only one way to get that and it's jmfs. All other upgrade tools that I know of adds partition pairs.

Its true I tried a lot of things but none of that has anything to do with the partition map I posted. I wouldn't put that kind of confusion into another persons call for help. I don't know if its fair to call my integrity or motives into question.

What I posted is from the stock 160gb drive that I ran for about a month reboot free so I used jmfs to upgrade it directly to 2tb and let it go about 3 weeks before hacking by hand which was a couple of weeks ago. The only thing not stock about this drive is the kernel, bash, iptables, busybox and tivowebplus.

My curiosity can be alleviated by bigjon posting a partition map of his upgraded drive. Its sure a lot easier than replacing a power supply.

I'm quite sure you'd never willingly or knowingly attempt to de-rail someone else's attempt to get help here, and I sincerely hope we will not have a falling out about this. I apologize if anything I said made you feel I had accused you of anything untoward.

That said, and wishing that comer still came around to answer questions, I feel almost certain that the Apple Free partition was already on your source drive before jmfs did any copying, and further, since comer probably didn't forsee any need for it, jmfs probably can't even create any kind of partition except for an MFS Media one.

When you say stock 160GB drive, do you mean one that came in the TiVo from the factory and that was never re-imaged in any way?

I took the power supply out as unitron suggested. The solder connections on the underside of the board all looked good. What was perhaps suspect was one, possibly two of the 10 V 2200 uf capacitors had the first signs of bulging. Based on what I have seen in the threads on Tivo power supply deaths due to the capacitor plague (and that the reboot issue is common to all those with sick capacitors except for the ones that just grenade - then there are other things that don't work).

So, I am going to pick up a kit of the capacitors I need to replace all of the small ones on the board and just put new ones in from a reliable source. I can probably get all the parts I need locally at Fry's that's in driving range.

I'll report back once I've got the power supply buttoned back up and have a new image on the WD20EURS (I'll need to re-do the JMFS copy since there is new cable card data on the Hitachi 1 TB drive).

Thanks for everyone's help.

BJ

Obviously those 10V caps aren't across the 12V line (unless there was a mistake made at the place where the power supply was made), so I'm guessing they're on the 5V one. It's a little odd, since the 5V line seems to be so much steadier than the 12.

The reason for looking at the underside of the supply isn't to check how well things are soldered, it's to see which things are soldered to which area of copper so as to figure out what's connected to what.

For instance, the copper "land" to which the yellow wires are both connected should also have the + terminal of one or maybe two capacitors also sticking through from the other side and soldered in place. There should also be one end of a coil of what looks like bare wire (but it's actually insulated with a thin layer of varnish of some sort).

The - lead of that capacitor or those capacitors should be sticking through a different copper land, one to which all of the black wires are connected. That's ground.

That's how you identify which cap or caps is/are across the +12V output.

The same technique will work for the +5V output, just start with where all the red wires go through the power supply circuit board and work your way back.

Find the cap or caps connected to the 12V line and ground, and the cap or caps connected to the 5V line and ground, and replace those and if the problem is just the power supply, that should do it, and if not then you'll most likely have headed off any future power supply problem.

You want radial (not axial) low ESR caps rated for 105 degrees (celsius), the same uF rating as what you're replacing, and the voltage rating needs to exceed the voltage of the section in which they'll be put. (If by some chance those 10V caps were actually installed on the 12V line instead of the 5, replace them with 16V or 25V ones, depending on what's available).

Radial means both leads come out the bottom. Axial is a type that's more of a tube with one lead comng out of each end.

Make yourself a diagram of what's where, and remember that the replacement caps have to physically fit where the old one's did, so take note of the height and diameter, and how much room is available.

An available replacement may be shorter and wider or taller and skinnier while still being the same uF, Voltage, Temp, and ESR rating.

What is the consensus on Samsung drives? I am considering using SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI. Anyone know if these drives run quiet and how they compare to WD’s? Also, are there any tweaks to make this drive quiter?

I just installed a Samsung F3 1TB in a Tivo HD because my less than 2 year old Hitachi 7K1000 1TB was dying. Copied it over with jmfs and it's been working great for a month now. This isn't the latest green model, it's a 7200rpm. Very quiet drive.

The Hitachi death was weird - there weren't a lot of bad sectors, the drive would just hang randomly on reads/writes to certain areas causing a ton of stutter in the Tivo, to the point where it would reboot at times. Most shows recorded and played fine, but some wouldn't depending on the area of the drive it was on, and it slowly got worse over time.

Obviously those 10V caps aren't across the 12V line (unless there was a mistake made at the place where the power supply was made), so I'm guessing they're on the 5V one. It's a little odd, since the 5V line seems to be so much steadier than the 12.

The reason for looking at the underside of the supply isn't to check how well things are soldered, it's to see which things are soldered to which area of copper so as to figure out what's connected to what.....(snip)........

Make yourself a diagram of what's where, and remember that the replacement caps have to physically fit where the old one's did, so take note of the height and diameter, and how much room is available.

An available replacement may be shorter and wider or taller and skinnier while still being the same uF, Voltage, Temp, and ESR rating.

(Equivalent Series Resistance, in case you wondered)

OK, thanks for the clarification unitron. I did reinspect for the proper voltages on the caps (or at least greater than what the output dc volts was supposed to be on the given wire lead) and all was as it was supposed to have been. Made my little schematic before I desoldered all of the caps and then went to work, and picked up equivalent radial capacitors (actually, I wound up getting exactly the same spec in terms of uf, voltage, temp - - I just didn't want to add another element to possibly screw things up later). New parts ran around $12.00 and change at Fry's (and a couple of dollar’s worth of diesel back and forth). Got the new components soldered in and tested the new board voltages with the Hitachi 1 TB drive plugged in. I saw some marginal improvements. At the instant of power on, the yellow lead in the mobo plug showed + 12.38 vdc then dropped right away to 11.5 as the hard drive spun up, however voltage recovery was faster than the same test I performed on the board with the old parts. I was back to + 12.0 vcd at the end of the first minute of boot-up, and the voltage was still recovering towards some higher stasis that I did not wait to record.

My next steps (some already taken) are to do another truncated back-up so I have the new cable card settings, as well as just new settings since the last week or so of having the Hitachi back in the Tivo, reset wdidle3 on the WD20EURS back to /d after running dlgdiag's again and doing a quick erase,
and then doing the JFMS copy, and expand. We'll see what happens. FWIW, before I started to desolder the old caps, I had the Tivo running for a couple more days and there were no further spontaneous reboots. I am beginning to wonder if the reboots with the Hitachi had something to do with my cable card fiasco......we'll see if we start going down that path again once I put the WD20EURS in. If we do, I am going to do a JMFS copy to a 2 TB Hitachi drive I have and see how it behaves.

Now I'm going to go offline here for a bit and turn my computer over to JFMS

......(snip)....Got the new components soldered in and tested the new board voltages with the Hitachi 1 TB drive plugged in. I saw some marginal improvements. At the instant of power on, the yellow lead in the mobo plug showed + 12.38 vdc then dropped right away to 11.5 as the hard drive spun up, however voltage recovery was faster than the same test I performed on the board with the old parts. I was back to + 12.0 vcd at the end of the first minute of boot-up.....(snip again).....

Now I'm going to go offline here for a bit and turn my computer over to JFMS

BJ

Well success at last (and I knock on wood as I type that ). My upgraded TiVo HD has been running with a WD20EURS over 24 hrs now without any spontaneous reboots and appears to be functioning normally in every respect. It reports 318 hours of HD capacity, it flawlessly copied over all of the copy protected programing I was wanting to keep, kept all of the cable card settings from the 1 TB Hitachi, and has even weathered a channel line-up change that came in from Comcast.

For whatever reasons it was beginning to appear, to me anyway, that the WD20EURS was more sensitive to the marginal power supply components prior to my replacing them than the Hitachi drive was - the reasons for the two reboots I experienced with the Hitachi drive while I was going back-and-forth with the drives might not be known now, and we can speculate power supply caps or cable card, but I can say for sure the WD drive was barfing with the old capacitors that were giving what unitron thought were marginal/borderline to spec voltage performance on my power supply and the quick test I did on the new caps proved a much better voltage recovery after HD load than the old ones. So, I'd say this mystery is solved, and we do not need to implicate the WD20EURS, which BTW I did reset wdidle3 back to /d which was the factory default on that unit.

Thank you unitron, and all else who suggested ideas for your help with this issue. Much appreciated.

Well success at last (and I knock on wood as I type that ). My upgraded TiVo HD has been running with a WD20EURS over 24 hrs now without any spontaneous reboots and appears to be functioning normally in every respect. It reports 318 hours of HD capacity, it flawlessly copied over all of the copy protected programing I was wanting to keep, kept all of the cable card settings from the 1 TB Hitachi, and has even weathered a channel line-up change that came in from Comcast.

For whatever reasons it was beginning to appear, to me anyway, that the WD20EURS was more sensitive to the marginal power supply components prior to my replacing them than the Hitachi drive was - the reasons for the two reboots I experienced with the Hitachi drive while I was going back-and-forth with the drives might not be known now, and we can speculate power supply caps or cable card, but I can say for sure the WD drive was barfing with the old capacitors that were giving what unitron thought were marginal/borderline to spec voltage performance on my power supply and the quick test I did on the new caps proved a much better voltage recovery after HD load than the old ones. So, I'd say this mystery is solved, and we do not need to implicate the WD20EURS, which BTW I did reset wdidle3 back to /d which was the factory default on that unit.

Thank you unitron, and all else who suggested ideas for your help with this issue. Much appreciated.

BJ

Good to hear.

You should be able to find some Hitachi diagnostic software online somewhere and run their long test on that 1TB, and if it passes, format it all one big NT partition and stick it in a PC running TiVo Desktop and use it for extra show storage.

Has anybody used a stock 160gig to copy and expand to a 2tb internal THD and then filled up the drive to see if there are any ill side effects?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soapm

Yes, lots of people have . Just use jfms and follow the instructions in the upgrade thread.

Hello- Just procured a used (stock) TivoHD/Lifetime with original 160GB drive to replace my frustratingly slow TCD540 Series2..

While I have the skills a plenty to perform an upgrade to a 2TB drive following the instructions herein, I just flat don't have the time. I'm looking to buy a ready-to-go 2TB drive for my stock TivoHD, but not pay an arm-and-a-leg for it. I'm willing to pay a premium, yes, but a reasonable one. I *greatly* respect Weaknees, but $299 for a ready-to-go 2TB drive is ridiculous in my opinion.

Obviously a $30 premium is lower than a $50 premium, so I ask, has anyone any knowledge of eBay's "uoph" and how they structure their drive? I certainly don't want to pay a premium only to find out that I need to redo the upgrade from scratch in a few months due to something they did wrong..

Also, as a side question- When I upgraded my TivoHD about a year ago with a Hitachi drive, Amazon had it for something like $60! Now everything seems to be over $100. What gives? Supply/demand problems?

I have looked through this thread and cannot find an answer. If it is already answered, I apologize. I need to format a new hard drive for a Tivo unit. The old hard drive is bad and needs to be replaced. What software will format a new hard drive for a Tivo?

I have looked through this thread and cannot find an answer. If it is already answered, I apologize. I need to format a new hard drive for a Tivo unit. The old hard drive is bad and needs to be replaced. What software will format a new hard drive for a Tivo?

Thank you

If you can find an image for your specific Tivo model in this thread and have access to a PC with Windows, you can use WinMFS to do a restore to a new hard drive.

Edit: Note if you go this route, you will have to perform a Clear and Delete everything once it is installed in the Tivo.

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I have looked through this thread and cannot find an answer. If it is already answered, I apologize. I need to format a new hard drive for a Tivo unit. The old hard drive is bad and needs to be replaced. What software will format a new hard drive for a Tivo?

Hello- Just procured a used (stock) TivoHD/Lifetime with original 160GB drive to replace my frustratingly slow TCD540 Series2..

While I have the skills a plenty to perform an upgrade to a 2TB drive following the instructions herein, I just flat don't have the time. I'm looking to buy a ready-to-go 2TB drive for my stock TivoHD, but not pay an arm-and-a-leg for it. I'm willing to pay a premium, yes, but a reasonable one. I *greatly* respect Weaknees, but $299 for a ready-to-go 2TB drive is ridiculous in my opinion.

Obviously a $30 premium is lower than a $50 premium, so I ask, has anyone any knowledge of eBay's "uoph" and how they structure their drive? I certainly don't want to pay a premium only to find out that I need to redo the upgrade from scratch in a few months due to something they did wrong..

Also, as a side question- When I upgraded my TivoHD about a year ago with a Hitachi drive, Amazon had it for something like $60! Now everything seems to be over $100. What gives? Supply/demand problems?

thanks in advance,
..dane

Last fall there was devastating flooding in Thailand that destroyed a big chunk of the world's hard drive manufacturing capability, as well a big chunk of their supply chain.

The people selling ready to go drives have to provide particular models that have no problems working in a TiVo, and provide a warranty to you.

Up to you if you think the price is reasonable or not, and whether you want to spend the money or spend the time.

If you decide to spend the time I have a couple of suggestions based on my own experience.

Obviously a $30 premium is lower than a $50 premium, so I ask, has anyone any knowledge of eBay's "uoph" and how they structure their drive? I certainly don't want to pay a premium only to find out that I need to redo the upgrade from scratch in a few months due to something they did wrong..

The real question is how much is your time worth. Hooking the drive and loading an image using WinMFS takes minutes. And you can do other things while the image is being put on the drive and you can leave the current Tivo in place until you have another 10 minutes to switch the drive.

I honestly think you'll spend more time finding and ordering the drive then you would switching it in the Tivo (if you're a deal hunter like me).

Last fall there was devastating flooding in Thailand that destroyed a big chunk of the world's hard drive manufacturing capability, as well a big chunk of their supply chain.

How long should we give them a pass on this? The longer we regurgitate this excuse the longer the prices will stay up. Perhaps we should say the prices are high as well as the profits at the drive manufactures and the bonuses of those executives which is probably more true than the Thai story... (that my $00.02)..

How long should we give them a pass on this? The longer we regurgitate this excuse the longer the prices will stay up. Perhaps we should say the prices are high as well as the profits at the drive manufactures and the bonuses of those executives which is probably more true than the Thai story... (that my $00.02)..

Prior to the flood competition between the drive makers was driving prices down.

Are you saying that they took advantage of the flood damage to collude to fix prices?

I have looked through this thread and cannot find an answer. If it is already answered, I apologize. I need to format a new hard drive for a Tivo unit. The old hard drive is bad and needs to be replaced. What software will format a new hard drive for a Tivo?

Thank you

As others have at least implied, the word "format" doesn't really cover what you need to do to the drive. You need to load it with the version of TiVo operating system and application software appropriate for your unit. This is done by copying an image (available for download) onto it, or you can buy a drive preloaded with the software.

Up to you if you think the price is reasonable or not, and whether you want to spend the money or spend the time.

If you decide to spend the time I have a couple of suggestions based on my own experience.

Thanks. I have read a few things about a larger swap partition, but cannot find answers to two questions: First, "why?" Why is a larger swap partition desirable, what is it used for and why does bigger mean better? The second question is, can Tivo software enlarge the partition on-the-fly? (I know, typically it would be sandwiched between two other partitions so "no," but sometimes the stupid questions are the most useful!) In other words, if Tivo themselves are "stuck" with a "smaller" swap partition, then what good does it do anyone else to have a larger one?

The other questions that I have involve how the eBay sellers structure their drives; Are there anything in particular that I need to ask them before I purchase, that I might regret down-the-road if they didn't do it right? I have read things in this thread about partition sizes and other issues. What types of structures on the drive do I need to ensure exist and/or do-NOT exist, before I purchase a prepared drive?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soapm

The real question is how much is your time worth. Hooking the drive and loading an image using WinMFS takes minutes. And you can do other things while the image is being put on the drive and you can leave the current Tivo in place until you have another 10 minutes to switch the drive.

I honestly think you'll spend more time finding and ordering the drive then you would switching it in the Tivo (if you're a deal hunter like me).

$30 (or $50 for that matter) is a good chunk of change, but 2012 to-date has been the busiest year on record for myself and my family. It has been absolutely NUTS. Hooking up a drive may take ten minutes, but getting out the mainboard, power supply, finding and burning the necessary CDs, sitting down hooking it all up, running the software, having to go unhook everything and put everything back away-- it becomes an all-evening ordeal. All my home computers are laptops. I have a mainboard and ATX power supply available to do the job that I just lay on the kitchen table when I need to use them (along with digging up a keyboard, mouse, and monitor!), but it's just even more steps involved. So the time it takes me in particular may be longer than the time it may take you who may already have everything prepared and who may have already used this particular software before.

Given $30/$50 premium, the more important question for me -- based on reading a dozen or more of the most recent pages of this thread -- is whether or not these drives in particular are in fact structured the way they should be structured. If not, I'll do it myself. If so, I'll buy one ready-to-go. Given the price of the Weaknees drives, I would by all means do it myself. But $30/$50 is a small price to pay for such convenience at the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soapm

How long should we give them a pass on this? The longer we regurgitate this excuse the longer the prices will stay up. Perhaps we should say the prices are high as well as the profits at the drive manufactures and the bonuses of those executives which is probably more true than the Thai story... (that my $00.02)..

I think "executive greed" is less a factor than others. It may very well be that supply/demand was upset and drove costs up. But the reality is that whatever people are currently paying, they are STILL paying. Just like when gas shot up three-fold in the early 2000's, the prices remained because the market in fact continued to buy and supported the new prices. A risky move by "big oil" that really paid off. If the market wouldn't bear the price of drives, then the price of drives would drop.

If the sudden rise was due to a flood as mentioned, then I think over TIME the prices will likely fall again due to normal competition. But a sudden drop would only occur if the market was unwilling to bear the current price, which I don't think is the case.